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|
 The
World Poker Tour Invitational held at Commerce Casino looks like it is the most fun of all the WPT events. Professional poker
players get a chance to meet and play poker with celebrities. Maybe the previous sentence should read, "Hollywood celebrities
get a chance to meet and play with their favorite celebrity poker players." The six final players at this year's Invitational were
Chau Giang,
Chris Ferguson, Tom Everett Scott (lead actor in
That Thing You Do), Alex Brenes, Bruce Buffer (voice of Ultimate Fighting Championship and Michael's brother), and Johan Storakers.
The start of the event was really boring because we didn't see a lot of action. In fact, we didn't see many flops. One of
the flops we happened to see was when Chris raised to $35,000 with pocket queens, Bruce moved all-in for $122,000 with AK of
spades, and Chris called. The flop was J76. The turn was another six and the river was a three. Bruce finished in sixth place.
Chau Giang is always fun to watch on television, but he didn't last long in this particular event. He was the next person to
be eliminated when he made a move at the wrong time. Tom raised to $35,000 on the button with pocket tens, Chris called from
the small blind with KJ of diamonds, and Chau moved all-in from the big blind with A8. Tom called and Chris folded. The flop
was J82, the turn was a queen and the river
was another jack.
On the next hand shown, Chris was eliminated. He raised to $25,000 on the button with pocket aces and Alex moved all-in with
AT. Chris called all-in for $190,000 (he had less than Alex). The flop was K97 and the turn was an eight. This was the best
possible card of Alex because he now had the open end straight draw. The river was a six giving Alex the
straight. Chris showed pure class on
his exit interview and should set an example of how poker players should act. He said, "I have given plenty of
bad beats, it's only fair."
 The three
remaining players played some of the tightest
and most passive poker I have ever seen. A few "yawns" later, Tom Everett Scott finally opened up his game and started
playing more aggressively. Unfortunately, he was the next person to be eliminated when he took pocket sixes against Alex's
AQ. Alex flopped a queen and Tom left the tournament in third place.
Johan was the chip leader when the play got down to six players. He did not get involved in hardly any hands and I wondered
how he ever managed to accumulate the chips he did to make it to the final six. He ended up finishing in second place after
three hands (at least three hands of televised play). The first hand, Alex picked up the pot preflop when he raised. The
second hand, Johan won when he raised to $95,000 with KT of spades and Alex called with A6 of spades. The flop was KQ5. Alex
checked, Johan bet $100,000 and after some
thought, Alex folded. It looked like Alex contemplated a move on this hand and if he had made an all-in move, he would have
ended up winning the hand. The WPT Wondercam showed that the next two cards to come were spades and Alex would have won with
an ace high flush. The final hand of
the tournament ended up being a coinflip after the flop. Alex only called with pocket aces and Johan checked J2 of diamonds.
The flop was T52 with two diamonds. Johan bet $65,000, Alex raised an additional $200,000, Johan moved all-in and Alex called.
Each player was 50% to win the hand. The turn was a seven of spades and the river was a king of hearts. Alex Brenes (brother of
Humberto and
Erick) won the World Poker Tour Invitational.
See also the Hollywood Invitational Season One and
Two |
